Terminally Ill Discus

[Jessy2363]

Okay so I've been treating a sick discus for over a month now. It looks shocking. It's on deaths bed basically. I've tried everything. I think I treated it okay but introduced it back into the main aquarium too soon and noticed in an couple days one of its gills was bright red. Anyway asking all discus keepers out there. Have any of you brought a severely sick discus back to good health? If so any tips? It's on a broad spectrum antibiotics right now in quarantine with the odd bit of prazi to keep flukes away. Am thinking of moving onto metro in a couple weeks or less to target hexamita if it takes hold.

Basically it is as dark as hell and its dorsal fin has been eaten away to the bone. I've treated for parasites already. Surely they have gone but god knows. Oh and it won't eat. at one point i was force feeding it mushed up bloodworms and cooked peas with a syringe. I stopped doing that as I thinking I was scaring it to death. Maybe it helped it. Not sure. Maybe I should start doing that again. Any fish nerds out there with magic answers?

 

[PoppaRyno]

Have you tried a salt bath, snd raising the temp above 86?

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[PoppaRyno]

Check into protozoan disease. AKA discus plague.

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[PoppaRyno]

Also... Lowering the ph while medicating increases the potentcy of the medication. This can help with meds effectiveness.

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[Jessy2363]

Thanks, yeah I've done salt dips. It stressed it out greatly I stopped doing the potent ones and now just have a low dose in quarantine permanently. I have not lowered ph though. I find it hard to lower ph quickly but easy to raise it. How do you lower ph? I'm using a cycled sponge filter but the meds have killed the filter already. May as well pull the filter out now. Tough times


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[BillD]

I can't say if this will help, but here is an option from a long time (50+ years) discus keeper, who spoke at our club. He doesn't use drugs, but lowers pH to around 3.8, using food grade phosphoric acid, and raises the temp to 95 for 3 days. You need an accurate pH meter to get the pH right.

 

[Jessy2363]

omg wow that's intense but good on him not using meds. I really don't know how to lower PH or know where to get phosphoric acid. I have an API PH test kit but I don't think it goes that low for PH. Gosh even if I got it around 4 that's no doubt going to do something. So is this lowering of the PH supposed to kill bacteria? I suppose it would as bacteria loves high PH. I don't think my heater could even take the tank up to 95. but a 3 day treatment sounds great!

 

[Jessy2363]

Check into protozoan disease. AKA discus plague.

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Thanks, yeah i looked up discus plague. Mixed answers on google. Seems to be a broad term for parasite and bacterial infection in one. Like a mixture of all sorts. Thing is, apparently discus plague is highly contagious and none of my other fish are suffering so fingers crossed it's not that.

I will be starting a metronidazole treatment to target the infamous hexamita. I am currently using furan 2, prazipro and Kanaplex. Tomorrow I am droping the furan 2 and keeping with Kanaplex and adding metronidazole so a combination of the two. I do daily 100% water changes as ammonia builds up almost overnight with almost nothing in the tank. Insane.

 

[SpaceFish42]

I'm very sorry I can't help, as I know almost nothing about discus, but I sincerely hope that it recovers and I wish you good luck.